I confess I have no answer to that. My debut novel was birthed from blood, pain, tears and tantrums. Don’t get me wrong. It’s all worth it. When you’ve done as much research as your weary brain can take; you’ve had the mother of ideas at 2 am in the morning (on more than one occasion) and you HAVE to get it down on your laptop; you’ve coped with the hiccups and glitches of your pc and you’ve recovered from all the trauma of thinking that your manuscript has disappeared into the ether; you’ve edited, edited and edited it for what you pray is the final time and there’s an “oops, I need to check that”, or, “have I done this, that or the other?”, it’s finished! A huge sigh of relief, throw your hands in the air and do a little cha-cha around the living room before falling exhausted into bed. So, after all that, why, oh why, did I choose to right a sequel? I will truthfully say, with some embarrassment, that I had totally and utterly fallen in love with my characters, Joe and Katie. I missed them, their love for each other and their struggles and…

As I grew up, my family had any number of cats. I also had a horse, as did one of my brothers. The occasional hamster came along, a few parakeets, even a couple of goats, but no dogs. Was that a deprived upbringing or what? When my daughter reached latchkey age, I saw an opportunity to remedy my doggy-deficit at last, for what kid can feel lonely at home with a dog on the premises? I left the choice of breed up to her, and she chose…a mastiff. OK… So we answered an ad, and picked up a cute little guy who looked sorta like… well, as the weeks went by, that puppy looked less and less like a mastiff, and more like a bull mastiff. Hmm. “Mom, you SAID I could have a mastiff.” A stout backyard fence was already in our future, and dogs are pack animals, right? If one is lovely, then two would be twice as delightful. This time, we bought from a reputable breeder nearby, and by gum, we got a mastiff… a fuzzy mastiff, that is. Both dogs outlived their breed life expectancies by many years, and they were purely wonderful additions to the…

Once you go bitch, it’s hard to go back. I knew that going into UNTIL I’M YOURS, the fourth installment of my Bennett series. Originally, the series was slated as two books, a love triangle story ending with one “angle” out in the cold. When my editor asked if I’d considered writing the odd man out’s story, I knew it would be difficult. Readers really rooted for “the guy who got the girl” and had come to hate Cam, “the other guy.” I mean, he was a bit of a jerk. Could I redeem him? As I started delving into his backstory and unpacking the history of abuse, hurt and neglect that shaped him into the guy readers thought they hated, I honestly believed that some time in his shoes would change their minds. And it did! Overwhelmingly, readers’ reviews, emails and messages reflected that they fell hard for him. Their hearts bled for him. They SWOONED for him. The hash tag #CamConverts was everywhere. Whew. Close call. My editor then asked if I’d considered writing Sofie’s story. Now let me back up and tell you a thing or two about Sofie Baston. In earlier books, she does everything in…

When I first started writing, literary agents were an enigma to me–mystical creatures, who I imagined spent their days reading inspiring works, dining with editors in fancy New York restaurants, and jet-setting off to Hollywood to negotiate lucrative film deals for clients. And sure, some of that really does happen. But when I was fortunate enough to land one of those agents, I quickly came to realize that a typical day for a literary agent includes much less glamorous activities: Reading query letters from hopeful authors includes sending them a disappointing “No thank you.” Editing book proposals demands hours of word-smithing. And matching a prospective book project with the right editor at the right publishing house takes networking, persuasion, finesse, and lots of just plain work. In short, a literary agent is like a tireless gatekeeper to the world of publishing, a writer’s travel partner along the bumpy road to publication, a dream maker. That’s exactly why I enjoy writing the Novel Idea Mysteries featuring Lila Wilkins, literary agent and amateur sleuth. Lila sees herself as someone who helps authors realize their dreams. I depict her working life with both the glamorous aspects she enjoys and the tedious efforts her…

No, I didn’t have Julie Andrews dancing in my head when I wrote that title…well, not much…okay, you caught me. I wanted her to be my mom when I first saw The Sound of Music all those years ago. One of the curious side effects of that feeling, is that I’ve tended to focus on finding my “favorite things” right through my adult life as well. I’ve often changed career paths to seek it and I held out until I met the most amazing woman. As I became a writer, I didn’t start with short stories and work my way up, I jumped straight into novels. And by my fourth book I dove off the high board and into my first series. I enjoy short stories, have read them since forever, and now write a dozen or so new ones every year. And novels are great too. But what I loved was series. Give me Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Asimov, Nora, high fantasy, Cussler thrillers…all of it. I love it. Of course, the next challenge was that while I wrote novels, actually writing a series is a whole different animal. I floundered, I flailed, I wrote, and I (sometimes massively) discarded….

Hi all! Erica Kudisch here, promoting my debut novel THE BACKUP, queer urban fantasy with a side of myth and music. Thanks so much for keeping up with the blog tour! Be sure to swing by the other stops for awesome multimedia content and a $50 prize package giveaway! Why The Bacchae I have a copy of D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths in the underwear drawer of my childhood bedroom. It’s in pieces. It’s been in pieces since I was nine years old. Even back then I knew I wasn’t getting the whole story, so I got my hands on other versions as soon as I could. My grandmother and I read the Iliad together when I was twelve, and watched the entirety of the BBC’s I CLAVDIVS, and I probably experienced the demythifications of Mary Renault a little too early in my emotional development, but there you go. Around the same time, I was taking drama classes at school, and we learned about Greek theatre and the roots of Western drama. I loved the scope of the stories, loved seeing all those myths I’d read as a child brought to life and somehow humanized. We read through the Oedipus…

Pre-Order THE SUTHERLANDS For Only 99¢ and Help The Reach Out and Read Charity Looking for a way to do good and read hot? Check out THE SUTHERLANDS, a sexy contemporary romance anthology that tells the story of one family with 11 brand-new, full-length novels and novellas for only 99¢. Twenty percent of the royalties earned from each sale will go to the Reach Out and Read charity, which incorporates early childhood reading into well child doctors’ visits. Inside The Sutherlands you’ll find: SHADOW RANCH by USA Today best selling author Robin Covington – Passion and secrets thrive in the dark… WRECKED by Wall Street Journal best selling author Terri Osburn – Revenge is always personal… BOUND TO DO DAMAGE by Avril Ashton – When protecting you heart is no longer an option…protect your neck. FOOLISH EXPECTATIONS by Alison Bliss – Forever is the last thing they expected… UNDER THE EVENING STAR by Shyla Colt – They must choose between the past that hunts and a love that can heal… BRAZEN by Avery Flynn – This bad boy boxer just met his match… SCREWED by Kelly Jamieson – The only time losing is more fun than winning is when you’re…

For Scarlett Parker, part of the fun of living in London is celebrating the British holidays, and she’s excited to share her first Bonfire Night with her cousin Vivian Tremont. Invited to a posh party by their friend Harrison Wentworth, Scarlett and Viv decide to promote their hat shop, Mim’s Whims, by donning a few of their more outrageous creations. The hats prove to be quite the conversation starters as the girls mix and mingle with the guests—never suspecting that one of them is a killer. It’s a cold, clear night, perfect for the British tradition of tossing a straw stuffed effigy of Guy Fawkes, traitor to the crown, onto the bonfire. But instead of a straw man, they realize in the heat of the moment that the would-be Guy Fawkes is actually Harrison’s office rival and he’s been murdered. Before the smoke has cleared, Harrison is the Metropolitan police’s prime suspect, and Scarlett and Vivian must find the real homicidal hothead before their dear friend’s life goes up in flames. Frequently, I am asked if my characters are me. Is Mel Cooper, who runs the bakery in the Cupcake Bakery series and has a severe sweet tooth, me? Is…

Who was the greatest influence in my life? I can only answer my mother. For me, the stars were aligned perfectly when I was born to a successful writer. A preemie, I debuted six weeks early at four pounds two ounces, forcing me to spend time in an incubator at Fairview Hospital in Minneapolis. My mother, Marguerite McClain, a sophisticated Barbara Stanwych look-a-like, visited me every other day, calling the hospital alternate days to ask what I’d gained in fractions of an ounce. Once I’d reached a hefty five pounds, I was released to my glamorous mother and handsome dark-haired father who brought me home to my two-year-old brother Mickey who called me his little hitta. Soon after the toddler stage, I discovered that all mothers didn’t write stories. They didn’t sit in the attic two hours a day, sweltering in summer and freezing in winter, tapping on the keys of a black standard typewriter. “I’m going upstairs to write” my mother would announce to my brother and me, and off she’d go, armed with cigarettes, a Coke and a Hershey bar. Mickey and I never touched her stash of goodies, intuitively realizing it was what kept her going. At…

Mari is a mermaid who wants to have her independence. She runs a small touristy beach souvenir shop (located in the building the hero owns) and she plans to prove her mother and family wrong. She can make it on her own. She is betrothed to a merman from another tribe, but she has no intention of marrying him. She’s trying to figure out how to best break the news to everyone. She cares about her mom’s feelings, but there’s no way she’s marrying the guy someone else picked out for her. I’d hope that readers would be drawn to Mari’s independent spirit. She faces obstacles with a pretty good attitude, usually by whistling and taking a swim to think about things. Overall, she has a pretty balanced mood—maybe leaning more toward the glass half full personality. She also has saved her man from death. So, she’s strong! Not just physically, but emotionally. She’s had to live with the knowledge that she saved him without telling him—so it’s been difficult for her to love him from afar. But she keeps a good mindset and enjoys her fantasy life about him. She’s really good at pretending he’s a pirate. When he…